Month: February 2007

I saw this shiny hole poking its way through the darkening cloud and at first it looked like a UFO or something because it was moving slightly to the left as my vehicle moved along the horizon within the highway. This object weaved itself in and out of reality like some unpredictable awareness, but I wasn't quite sure how to assess the situation properly. As things turned out as they usually do in perfect harmony, the empty space was a hole in the cloud but the moving object was a high flying jet carrying people which reflected the light in such a way that the so-called moving UFO was but a figment of my imagination. Time to blink my eyes, return to reality, and get home as quickly as possible.

Decided to get rid of that boring Les Pays Bas windmill picture on the left margin and replace it with a more appropriate photograph of the wonderful Dutch landscape within a ten minute walk from my house. I feel confident that this is a definite improvement, don't you think?

To be honest, and I do not quite know why, but I think I enjoyed the second day better than the first. Indeed it was an intense series of wonderful presentations and I enjoyed pretty much every second of it.

Here is a list of the interesting presentations I attended:

• Plone 3.0
• Drupal
• Mozilla
• Mono
• Secure Jabber
• Samba
• Beyond GPLv3

All of this so-called community related activities reminds me somewhat of the Haight Ashbury hippie period in modern form. What with computers and advanced technology combined with political attitudes and the noble pursuit of human rights.

A simple sign pointed the way to the entrance.

After having recovered well from the traditional Friday evening beer bash, I woke up bright and early Saturday morning and enjoyed a fun and relaxing breakfast at the Ibis Brussels Centre Gare du Midi. The drive to FOSDEM was short and I arrived early enough to make my donation of 100 euro, qualifying me for an official FOSDEM T-shirt, two books (Programming Python and Linux Desktop Pocket Guide) and a chance to win some nice prizes (in the end naught). Succumbing to the great discounts available, at then end of the day I bought another book: Classic Shell Scripting.

Here is a list of the interesting presentations I attended:

• Software patents in Europe
• One laptop per child (OLPC)
• Liberating Java
• X.org
• Introduction to Fedora
• Tux Droid, a Python-fueled robot
• LinuxKernel
• Django

I tried to squeeze into the Hacker Room to look at my email but it was too jam-packed. Tomorrow I'll bring along my laptop and tap into the free Wifi network so I too can look like I am one of the many nerds, but slightly older. I wasn't quite the oldest person there, as there was one grey-haired man of around seventy-five and another bald person with a beard, so that makes me third I guess.

This weekend FOSDEM 2007 will be taking place in Brussels. It should prove to be an informative and fun time for me. A nice and relaxing break away from the real world where I can become more familiar with the open source community, meet new people and appreciate a nice cold Trappiste once in awhile.

Whatever you do please be careful. Remain alert, position yourself where required, and do not take any unnecessary risks. Life is just too unpredictable in many regards, but in the long run it is up to you to make sure that things happen the way they were expected to happen, or not.

I was just wondering when I saw that black tower over there in the distance poking its head above the topmost portions of the forest whether or not it was time to do something else. When I reflected upon this curious alteration of my consciousness and decided it was time to make amends whatever that may mean that was exactly the point in time when the so-called black tower simply disappeared altogether without warning. I had imagined a damsel in distress letting her golden locks fall down from the immense heights but that was not to be. The black tower had disappeared but the outline was still there to be seen by those willing to look beyond the cloak of awareness that the distance had put between us.

Perception is kind of a personal way of looking at things, limited to the core of one's being, the way were always meant to be. There is no way of getting around this as if one would prefer otherwise. Fine with me, no choice otherwise.

I come home after a long day of work, feeling tired. My wife has a surprise for me. Alright, what kind of surprise could it be? There on the table is a cardboard box and I have to open it, at least that is what my wife wants me to do, all smiling and giggling about things. So when I open it I discover that there is a baby girl inside (oh dear), very cute and adorable, I had always wanted a fifth child but really, this is something I hadn't really expected. But still, life goes on, try to adapt. My wife has to apologize to me, almost in tears, her pregnancy kept hidden because she was so afraid I would get mad at her. Why would I get mad? I would have never minded if I had known about it in advance. How is this possible? I feel angry, frustrated, like nobody understands how I feel or react to the situation, but at the same time I am happy. When I pick up the beautiful child she feels soft, smells clean, and fits into the world as I have envisioned that it should be. A wonder, something that has come to be, and then life goes on as usual. What next?

According to a recent survey made by the BBC World Report, the best European country to raise kids happens to be The Netherlands (by far). That's good to know that in that regard I made the right choice, for my kids at least.

There are normally regularly scattered moments in time when a person starts to wonder if life is truly meant to be what it should have been. This way of thinking takes place later in life when many chances have been taken or ignored for the sake of one reason or other. This is a perfectly normal stage in life, at least according to C.G. Jung who foresaw the development of the human mind reaching this so-called middle-aged stage during which such philosophical thoughts had to be overcome.

Here are the four Jungian Stages of Development:

1. Childhood : Archaic: sporadic consciousness, Monarchic: beginning of logical and abstract thinking, Ego starts to develop.
2. Youth : From Puberty until 35 - 40. Maturing Sexuality, growing consciousness, and a realization that the care free days of childhood are gone forever. People strive to gain independence, find a mate, and raise a family.
3. Middle Life : The realization that you will not live forever creates tension. If you desperately try to cling to your youth, you will fail in the process of self-realization. Introverted tendencies should now be explored and people often become religious during this period.
4. Old Age : Consciousness is reduced. Jung thought that death is the ultimate goal of life. By realizing this, people will not face death with fear, but with a hope for rebirth.

See: Stages of Life.

I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence and
So the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're going through

- David Bowie, Changes

Having a great time without
a single worry in the world,
life couldn't be better.

Oh yeah, by the way, this is a so-called heavy checkmark:

✔

Also known as:

✔

So I am sitting across a fellow Californian and she turns to me and mentions on the fly (dares say) that my accent is worse than most Dutch people trying to speak English. Something to do with my intonation that does not quite fit in correctly with the flow of language, the expected way the syllables are connected in time. What gives?

Whenever I do a

portsclean -CDD [ ✔ ]

and after a while I am returned to the prompt I feel alot better as if in some way or another I have cleansed my soul and prepared myself for the next step in life.

How is it possible that Anna Nicole Smith is dead? She seemed like such a nice and beautiful person, but in the end things did not turn out as one would have expected. A real bummer.

Gone for nothing and never to return...

Ouch I have lost myself again
Lost myself and I am nowhere to be found,
Yeah I think that I might break
Lost myself again and I feel unsafe

- Sia, Colour the Small One

This is the wreckage and this is all about the Lafayette Escadrille.

Switch to workspace on the right:

On September 23, 1916, Rockwell spotted an observation plane while he was flying cover for a bombing raid against Germany. He dived at great speed, closing the 11,000 feet separating the two planes, and fired his gun just before a collision seemed certain. Soldiers on the ground thought that the German Albatross plane had been struck, but it was Rockwell’s Nieuport that crashed into a field of flowers behind French lines. When news of Rockwell’s death reached the squadron, the men mourned deeply. Friend and fellow squadron member James McConnell of Carthage in Moore County later wrote, “No greater blow could have befallen the escadrille.Kiffin was its soul.” Rockwell’s grave in France stands as a memorial to the brave Americans who fought not only for an ally but also for “the cause of humanity” in World War I.

More about Kiffin

Alright so let's try to think things out more carefully if that is possible. Forget the panic and the extra pressures to get things done before who knows what. The most important thing now is to remain cool, calm and collected, and do our best as much as possible.

There were a number of alternatives to choose from but that was not the main issue, at least not now. My recommendation is to wait and see what the best approach is before taking the next step, but we will have to wait and see.

I was looking around when all of a sudden I thought I had discovered it but that was not to be the case.